10 Reasons why JavaScript is better than Java

In this blog post I will give 10 reasons why JavaScript is better than Java.

1. Duck typing

JavaScript is a dynamically typed languages that makes it easily possible to create mock objects or exchange implementation without the hassle of interfaces. Compared to Java or C# it is a lot easier to write code that uses advanced patterns.

2. JSON as great wireformat

JSON itself is JavaScript code and a well defined wire format. It is easy understandable for humans and nearly every other language offers support for reading this format. It has structures like numbers, strings, lists and maps and a lot of other data formats like GeoJSON, OData or JSON-LD are based on this solid foundation.

3. Multiple high quality VM implementations

Most languages like .NET or Java have only one high quality implementation of the VM. In every major browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox and Internet Explorer) a full high quality implementation of JavaScript is given. Further Java has two implementation with Rhino and Nashorn for JavaScript.

4. HTML5 and CSS3 are well integrated

JavaScript is the first class citizen in our modern web world. HTML5 is directly integrated with the DOM API. Therefore JavaScript can manipulate HTML, SVG and other XML documents.

5. Great APIs (WebRTC, WebAudio, Geolocation, …)

JavaScript is shipped in every major browser with a great set of easy and standardized APIs. These can access hardware in an effective and portable way.

6. Debugger directly integrated into browsers

One of the best experiences when developing JavaScript is the easiness of debugging code. In other languages like Java you have to make a build, attach jdb to the process you are running, having an IDE showing you the source and stepping through the code.

JavaScript is far easier, you just open the developer console, set your break points and start debugging your code.

7. Easier handling of number data types

In Java there are multiple different types for numbers (byte, short, int, long, float, double) in JavaScript there is only one: Number. The VM is handling all the conversion between CPU and your program transparently for you.

8. Great functional support

JavaScript had from day one support for anonymous functions and these can be used everywhere.

9. Prototype based for great metaprogramming

Because JavaScript is a protoype based programming language like SELF you can dynamically add functions and properties to all available objects.

10. No compilation

Because JavaScript is a scripting language you don’t need any compilation which makes it for a beginner a lot easier to start coding.

Conclusion

Java and JavaScript are both advanced languages which have there advantages. Java is very good on the server side and JavaScript is very good on the client side both together can team up in a great way.